Name: Pani puri with aloo chaat masala & raita
Prep time: 2 h 50 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 3 h 20 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ½ small onion, diced; ½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds; 1 small dried red chilli, broken into pieces; a sprinkling of Chaat masala, to taste; 300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) atta flour (high-protein durum wheat flour); 2 tablespoons fine semolina; 1 teaspoon rock salt; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil; 4 boiling potatoes, such as russet or sebago, cooked and cooled; 1 teaspoon chilli powder; ½ teaspoon salt; 45 ml (1½ fl oz) rice bran oil, plus extra for brushing; 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, dry-roasted and ground; 100 g (3½ oz) tamarind pulp, soaked in 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) water for 2 hours; Raita, to serve; 250 g (9 oz) mint, leaves picked; 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
3 hr 30

Appears in

Lands of the Curry Leaf

By Peter Kuruvita

Published 2018

About

Pani puri is straight street food, known by various other names throughout India. When you order it, the vendor will deep-fry three or four ‘puri’ (hollow, round pastry puffs) until crisp, fill or top them with a big dollop of spiced potato (‘aloo’) and serve them up with raita and a flavoured mint sauce known as ‘pani’. Variations abound, but the taste explosion is always heavenly.